Founded in 1994, the Perceptual Science Group of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT does research in human visual perception, machine vision, image processing, and human-computer interaction. Both the Adelson Lab and the Rosenholtz Lab are located in Building 32.

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The Perceptual Science Group of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT does research in human vision, machine vision, human-computer interaction, and touch sensing for robotics. Both the Adelson Lab and the Rosenholtz Lab are part of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), located in the Stata Center.\\

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//** Special Event — Saturday, July 15, 2017 **//

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[[https://sites.google.com/view/rss17ts/overview|{{:rss17-1.png}}]]

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//**News... **//

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If robots are to perform everyday tasks in the real world, they will need sophisticated tactile sensing. The tactile data must be integrated into multi-sensory representations that support exploration, manipulation, and other tasks.

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This workshop asks the following questions:

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* What kinds of tactile technologies are currently available, and what are needed?

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* What type of representations are best for capturing and exploiting tactile data?

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* How can tactile information be combined with other information to support specific tasks?

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* Can learning help to provide suitable representations from high-dimensional sensory data?

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This workshop will bring together experts from the fields of tactile sensing, sensor design, manipulation, and machine learning. We expect that the pairing of theoretical and applied knowledge will lead to an interesting exchange of ideas and stimulate an open discussion about the goals and challenges of tactile sensing.

**Peripheral vision, inference, and visual awareness**: An extended abstract is now available based on Ruth Rosenholtz' invited talk at the VSS 2017 Symposium, "The Role of Ensemble Statistics in the Visual Periphery." [[https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.02764|What modern vision science reveals about the awareness puzzle: Summary-statistic encoding plus decision limits underlie the richness of visual perception and its quirky failures]]

**Peripheral vision, inference, and visual awareness**: An extended abstract is now available based on Ruth Rosenholtz' invited talk at the VSS 2017 Symposium, "The Role of Ensemble Statistics in the Visual Periphery." [[https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.02764|What modern vision science reveals about the awareness puzzle: Summary-statistic encoding plus decision limits underlie the richness of visual perception and its quirky failures]]

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**Modelling visual crowding**: Shaiyan and Ruth's work testing a unified account of visual crowding has been accepted to the [[http://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2498972|Journal of Vision]].

**Modelling visual crowding**: Shaiyan and Ruth's work testing a unified account of visual crowding has been accepted to the [[http://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2498972|Journal of Vision]].

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**Dr. Shaiyan Keshvari graduates!** Shaiyan defended his thesis, //At the Interface of Materials and Objects in Peripheral Vision//, on July 29th, 2016.

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**Dr. Phillip Isola graduates!** Phil defended thesis, // The Discovery of Perceptual Structure from Visual Co-occurrences in Space and Time//, on August 17th, 2015. He has just started as a postdoc with Alexei (Alyosha) Efros at UC Berkeley. Check out a photo of Dr. Isola's [[:gallery:defenseparties|photo]] celebratory reception, complete with detective costume.

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**Dr. Rui Li graduates!** Rui defended thesis, // Touching is Believing: Sensing and Analyzing Touch Information with GelSight//, on April 30th, 2015. He is now working on a startup called [[http://virtulus.com/|Virtulus]] in Cambridge. Here is a [[:gallery:defenseparties|photo]] from the post-defense reception.

**Paper accepted to IROS 2014**: Rui and Wenzhen's work on adapting the [[http://www.gelsight.com|Gelsight]] sensor for robotic touch has been accepted to IROS 2014. This work was done in collaboration with the [[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/rplatt/|Platt]] group at NEU, and it was covered by [[http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/fingertip-sensor-gives-robot-dexterity-0919|MIT News]].

**Paper accepted to IROS 2014**: Rui and Wenzhen's work on adapting the [[http://www.gelsight.com|Gelsight]] sensor for robotic touch has been accepted to IROS 2014. This work was done in collaboration with the [[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/rplatt/|Platt]] group at NEU, and it was covered by [[http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/fingertip-sensor-gives-robot-dexterity-0919|MIT News]].

**Taking a new look at subway map design**: The Rosenholtz lab's Texture Tiling Model was used to evaluate subway maps for the MBTA Map Redesign Contest. Check out the [[http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020708/evidence/the-science-of-a-great-subway-map|FastCompany Design article]], [[http://blog.visual.ly/how-do-our-brains-process-infographics-mit-mongrel-shows-peripheral-vision-at-work/|Visual.ly article]], and the [[http://www.csail.mit.edu/node/2094|CSAIL news article]]. The news was also picked up by a couple other media sources: [[http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/11/how-much-of-a-subway-map-can-one-persons-brain-process/|Smithsonian Magazine]] and [[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/11/07/building-a-better-subway-map/|The Dish]]. Here's an older article about our research from [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110202215339.htm|Science Daily]].

**Taking a new look at subway map design**: The Rosenholtz lab's Texture Tiling Model was used to evaluate subway maps for the MBTA Map Redesign Contest. Check out the [[http://www.fastcodesign.com/3020708/evidence/the-science-of-a-great-subway-map|FastCompany Design article]], [[http://blog.visual.ly/how-do-our-brains-process-infographics-mit-mongrel-shows-peripheral-vision-at-work/|Visual.ly article]], and the [[http://www.csail.mit.edu/node/2094|CSAIL news article]]. The news was also picked up by a couple other media sources: [[http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/11/how-much-of-a-subway-map-can-one-persons-brain-process/|Smithsonian Magazine]] and [[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/11/07/building-a-better-subway-map/|The Dish]]. Here's an older article about our research from [[http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110202215339.htm|Science Daily]].

If robots are to perform everyday tasks in the real world, they will need sophisticated tactile sensing. The tactile data must be integrated into multi-sensory representations that support exploration, manipulation, and other tasks.\\